Depersonalization: A Strange Mental Illness Captured in Films, Music & Celebrity Confessions

For many in the world, depersonalization isn’t really a familiar word. Sometimes, it is used to refer to the act of removing human characteristics or individuality from someone or something. Almost no one you meet on the street would be able to tell you what depersonalization means in the psychiatric sense of the word. Depersonalization (DP) is a dissociative disorder whereby a person experiences a distortion in how they experience their self. A person going through DP may feel disconnected from themselves and often report that they feel like watching a movie of oneself. It’s a bewildering experience that can leave a person utterly confused and scared. Very little is known about this disorder in psychiatry, and all research is still nascent. Nonetheless, I’m going to present the case that depersonalization is fairly well-documented in films, music, literature, and in the lives of many celebrities, either directly by its clinical name or, more commonly, as a collection of anomalous experiences of a detached self or an unreality that can only be articulated through art. It’s understood that almost everyone goes through a depersonalization episode a few times in their lifetime; such episodes last from a few minutes to hours. But an estimated 2% of the world’s population more or less experiences it chronically. One of the earliest known references to depersonalization comes from the writings of Henri-Frédéric Amiel. He wrote: “I find myself regar...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Creativity Dissociative disorders Essays Personal Stories Depersonalization Derealization Dissociation film media Mental Illness Music Source Type: news